ROCHESTER, Mich. (WXYZ) — Five Republican candidates for Michigan governor faced off Tuesday night during a debate at Oakland University in Rochester ahead of the August primary election.
WXYZ and our Grand Rapids sister station WXMI and our Lansing sister station WSYM partnered with the Michigan Republican Party to host the third debate.
You can watch the full debate and clips in the video player above and throughout this article.
Topics discussed ranged from access to clean drinking water in Michigan to foster care and adoption after the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The five candidates that took the stage were Tudor Dixon, Ryan Kelley, Kevin Rinke, Garrett Soldano and Ralph Rebandt.
Related: Meet the 5 candidates in WXYZ-TV, MI Scripps' stations Republican Gubernatorial primary debate
Candidates were asked what they would do to ensure assault-style weapons do not get into the hands of people who should not have them. When asked, they all said they would be in favor of increasing the state's budget for mental health.
Kelley, who was first in the order to respond, called the term assault weapons “baseless,” adding that we need to get rid of that “claim.”
“First of all, we have to understand that assault is an action and it’s not an object. So to say that these are assault weapons, they just sit there unless somebody else assaults someone with them," Kelley said.
He also said the Second Amendment of the Michigan Constitution is being “demonized and criminalized” and isn’t embraced. He said he’s working with the National Rifle Association School Shield program to help identify vulnerable areas to help protect schools.
“The government is most of the time the problem and not the solution. We need to lean on faith-based communities to address the mental health issues. The government should partner with them to make that happen,” Kelley said.
Soldano responded to the question saying the Second Amendment is not for hunting but for protecting First Amendment rights. He added that one of the first tasks he would do as governor to curb gun violence would be to ensure constitutional carrying.
“Did you just see in Indiana where somebody was carrying and stopped somebody that was a threat, and he stopped it in minutes, somebody who was constitutionally carrying,” Soldano said of the Greenwood Park Mall shooting.
Rinke said he is a “constitutional carry guide” and the right for citizens to protect themselves is non-negotiable. He said firearms like AR-15s function the same as a pistol.
“So to outlaw a gun the way it looks, then it would make sense to outlaw a car for the way it looks using that rational,” Rinke said.
He said bad people do bad things, pointing to the violent attacks of the Bath School disaster in 1927.
Dixon highlighted the need for more funding for mental health, saying we are going through a mental health crisis. She said there is more of a need since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to look at policies in states where everything was shut down and people were told that you have to go turn your neighbor in,” Dixon said. “Fear causes mental health issues.”
She said Michigan needs to make sure there are facilities necessary to treat mental health.
Rebandt started his response off saying, “I do not agree with the term gun violence.” Instead, he said he would refer to it as "people violence."
Rebandt, a pastor and police chaplain, said he’s seen “needless deaths.” He said many people seeking mental health treatment are prescribed medication that leads to them losing a sense of reality.
Other topics discussed included teaching about racism and diversity in schools, early childhood education and day care costs and help for small businesses.
The Michigan Democratic Party released the following statement after the debate:
“Anybody looking for a governor during tonight’s GOP debate only found a continued clown show. Between rounds of nasty infighting about special interest-backed Tudor Dixon’s ties to the DeVos family, they continued to push their dangerous plans to gut public education, ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest, and make Michigan communities less safe. Just hours after Governor Whitmer signed her fourth bipartisan, balanced budget with historic investments in education, Kevin Rinke, Tudor Dixon, Ryan Kelley, Garrett Soldano and Ralph Rebandt made clear they are fixated on dragging Michigan backwards.”
